Steve Jobs offers Apple's 2008 Green Update

Jonny Evans
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October 16, 2008
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Apple today published an update on its environmental plans.

"For the past several years, Apple has made a concerted effort to be more transparent about the steps we are taking to protect the environment and make our business more sustainable. In this environmental update, I’d like to inform you of our recent progress and introduce you to a groundbreaking system of reporting that we believe is unmatched in our industry," the open message, signed by Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, explains.

"Last year we announced the unprecedented goal of eliminating polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from Apple products by the end of 2008. We also pledged to remove mercury from our displays and arsenic from our display glass as we transition to more efficient light-emitting diode (LED) technology.

"The greatest of these challenges has been eliminating PVC and BFRs, which many other companies have only promised to phase out of certain parts like enclosures or printed circuit board laminates. In contrast, we are removing all forms of bromine and chlorine throughout the entire product, not just PVC and BFRs. Apple has qualified and tested thousands of components and mechanical plastics as bromine and chlorine free, and we are in the final stages of developing and certifying PVC-free power cables."

There's lot's more - you can read it in full right here.

(Big tick from me to this, BTW).

 

Comments (24)

9to5Mac Critic (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 1:14pm

File this one under the "Who gives a crap" department.

I cringe everytime Steve-O starts talking about the environmental aspects of new products. Seriously... who cares?

Give us great products at great prices. Make the coolest stuff on the planet and we'll be happy.

grammar police (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 1:20pm

actually, we should file this under "who the hell asked you?".

oh, just because YOU don't give a crap means that no one else does? riiiiiiight.

mniessen (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 2:24pm

We should all care;
Maybe - just maybe - that would help.

Anaxarxes (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 1:23pm

The coolest stuff on the planet? If there is still a planet, you'll get your cool toys, idiot.

daPrinz (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 1:50pm

I think Critic is a little to harsh with his comment but I think he touches a very important issue here. It looks like no one gives a crap about the environment when Sony or Dell comes out with a new laptop. However, every time Apple releases a new product you have all those green activists (no offense) making Apple look like the only Armageddon industry.
I would like to know how environmentally a Dell is (almost 30% market share in the US). Maybe it is better than Apple, I don't know, somehow no one seems to give a crap like Critic says.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 7:48pm

In these environmentally concious days, if Dell is not bragging about how green their products are I don't think they're exactly industry-leading in that field.

Being greener and also promoting it makes Apple get more customers and helps reduce our raping of the world.

Critic above is why the planet may go to shit. He doesn't care, it won't be apocalyptic until way after he dies so why should he care? Typical "I got mine" jackass mentality.

9to5Mac Critic (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 8:19pm

Sorry, not a jackass, just a skeptic. I don't easily fall for the Chicken Little mentality of the sky is falling... oh my gosh, we have to do something...

Compassionate Mac User (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 2:25pm

Not to beat a dead horse, but ignorance expressed by ppl such as critic is a big problem we face as animals on this earth. How are we supposed to fix these issues when we're still fighting ourselves? If critic has children I feel bad for him, or for his kids for that matter. Don't you realize there may be no future for us without small changes like apple has made? I applaud apple for a job well done, and it's only a start.

Springerlicious (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 2:29pm

Good job at appeasing the far-lefty environmentalists. I mean, it's good to care about the environment and all, but I just think this is a big PR stunt.

But, good job overall. Love the new MBPs!

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 3:34pm

Well there are 2 reasons for them to do this:

1) It was not that long ago that they were heavily criticised for being sub-par when it comes to environmental concerns
I quote: "California's Apple Inc. has the worst environmental policies among major electronics companies, the environmental group Greenpeace says." April 2007

2) Al Gore sits on their board

In short, caring for the environment is good PR, and it gives them another claim to superiority over their competitors. In short, thanks to Steve's reality warp field, Apple has become the lead when it comes to electronics and the environment, even though other companies have been dealing with these issues for a much longer time.

ikir (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 11:02pm

Yes but Greenpeace admitted they told this about Apple to move the industry, indeed Apple was already one of the best. But if you attack HP nobody cares, but yif you light the Apple store with green light every listen the message. They admitted it, so end of discussion.

9to5Mac Critic (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 5:31pm

Okay. You all are right, I'm an idiot....

Or perhaps I just see things differently. The recent turning green of Apple is an effect of two primary reasons.... one, the constant criticism by leftist groups such as Greenpeace, in a lame effort to earn free publicity, and the fact that Al "earth warrior" Gore sits on the Apple board.

These environmental actions on Apple's part are "symbolism over substance." They make the company look great to the greenies, and it gets them off their shit list, but in the grand scheme of things... how much is this going to change the planet?

Okay, great.... these computers are created without using PVC. So What? PVC is everywhere and used for everything, I guarantee that there is more PVC is one of these Greenie's homes, than there is in tens of thousands of old PowerBooks.

BFRs. Again. So what? Show me actual, real scientific proof (not junk, pseudo-science that is advocated by a scientist with an agenda) that shows that the tiny little bit of BFR used in a computer is harmful. Junk Science has become so prevalent in our society today. It seems that every action group has their own team of scientists that can back up their ludicrous clams. Mark Twain famously said that there are three types of lies in this world. Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics. Any non-reputable scientist can make any data show any conclusion, by simply skewing the data. Show me the actual proof.

Arsenic Free Glass? Sure it sounds great... but almost every pane of glass in your home has been treated with Arsenic... it removes the green tint. Is it any threat to you in your home? Nope.

Mercury. Hmmmm. Lets think about this one. Again, symbolism over substance. How much Mercury is in a CCFL behind your LCD? A tiny little microdot? How many laptops end up in land fills? I still have every Apple laptop I've ever owned. Now, all of you bitching about how horrible Mercury is in laptops.... you'd probably be the same people who advocate the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs in a home to save energy. Now how many of those CFLBs do you think get thrown out? Are you calling hazmat every time you accidently break one? I don't think so.

So there. My argument is that I hate seeing Apple have to waste time and effort on ridiculous things that in the grand scheme of things, have absolutely no impact whatsoever. Spend the money on making the next toy that is going to drive consumers crazy.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 7:39pm

honestly, in an individual laptop, you're right, there's not a lot of these harmful chemicals. but removing these elements from the process means that hundreds of thousands of laptops sold over the next couple of years won't contain them. also, more importantly, it means they aren't used at the factory, where usually, a lot more of a harmful chemical is used in a production process then is used in the finished product.
really, every little bit helps. i'm glad that a company i respect is making these kinds of efforts to help the environment, and that they aren't reducing the quality of their computers to do so. it's even possible that other smaller companies will look to the example of a larger company and the environmental benefits will snowball.

opinion (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 6:56pm

@critic
"have absolutely no impact whatsoever."
Do you really think so?
I don't have time to try to debunk everything you said. But I am positively sure that steps like this will have impact. Maybe not right away, but in the long term, I see these innovations move the rest of the industry.

ONTOPIC:
When I clicked thru the environmental reports on Apple's site, I see the Mac Pro isn't featured.. Surely this will mean something?

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 8:50pm

@Critic: Try reading about the butterfly effect.

9to5Mac Critic (not verified) | October 16, 2008 - 9:03pm

Hey Noob. Try reading about the Scientific Method, instead of unsubstantiated, unprovable, un-researched theories.

firewire (not verified) | October 17, 2008 - 12:00am

apple forces us to throw away all the firewire stuff and buy new, slow usb crap.

very green!

Jaryd (not verified) | October 17, 2008 - 1:21am

I agree. I was really upset when Steve Jobs broke down my door, grabbed my old MacBook Pro with FireWire and broke it! Now what am I supposed to do? Buy a new MacBook, which does not include FireWire, and buy all new USB peripherals? I wish he hadn't done that!

Oh, wait, he didn't. Your MacBook (or whatever you use) with FireWire is still humming along just fine. I don't remember reading in any of Apple's policies that you have to throw away your old products and upgrade when Apple releases new ones.

I'm glad someone as sharp as you is informing us of these unholy practices.

daPrinz (not verified) | October 17, 2008 - 12:08am

I learned that a small step is still a step and that one person can make a difference but don't let us forget one thing. When is it going to change? Apple went green after being attacked by Greenpeace. The sad reality these days is that everybody thinks, how can I make a difference if everybody else doesn't give a crap? Fact is that (most of us) start thinking green when we can win something out of it. For example gas prices. Until recently no one gave a damn about the environment when driving a fat SUV. Now car companies advertise their fuel efficient cars as "green" and everybody is into environmental friendly thinking. The fact that the gas prices are higher than never isn't the real reason behind this thinking? I mean, the global warming has been known for some years now and small engine cars have been around for some time now.
The majority of people just don't have enough education to know what is really "green".
They buy these awesome "green" CFL bulbs (that can save them lots of money - again the real reason) that have been advertised :
"FACT: If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year!
What they don't tell you is that in case such a lamp breaks you are supposed to leave the room for at least 30 min.!!! before coming back to carefully pick up the remaining pieces. And of course you are not supposed to throw it into the trash can. (is written on the package)
I don't know much about chemicals but I am pretty sure that doesn't sound very "green" at all.
The way Apple is going is good but we need more. We need to force industries to change. They won't do it if they lose money in doing so.
Then, only then we will make a change. Unfortunately we are not that evolved species we think we are. Not yet!
I don't agree with Critic's opinion but at least he is not a hypocrite.
(Not saying that you guys are!)

Jaryd (not verified) | October 17, 2008 - 1:29am

With regard to the mercury contents of compact fluorescent lightbulbs: yes, there is a tiny amount of mercury in them. Do we want that in there? No! Of course not. But, like any other technology, we are improving it. Eventually, it may have no mercury, or we will move onto LED lightbulbs, which last even longer. Everything is a trade-off; will there ever be a perfectly efficient, zero waste product? No, there won't. But we can do our best to get there. And as of right now, air quality and the temperature of the earth is more important than the little bit of mercury in the bulbs.

If a bulb breaks, only a percentage of the total mercury will evaporate into the air, and only a portion of that will be inhaled. You get the same amount of mercury by eating a can or two of tuna.

http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2007/07/31/cfl_mercury-2/

Is it perfect? No, but if we are careful, they are still a viable option to incandescent light bulbs.

Jonny Evans | October 17, 2008 - 3:03am

 You Americans have a long way to go before you get to understand why green matters. I despair sometimes as I watch you spout the same tired arguments against the agenda, and laugh every time greens are lumped in with 'leftists', and that. It's like McCarthy left a scar on America's heart.

Joe the Plumber (not verified) | October 17, 2008 - 5:35am

You Europeans (?) have a long way to go to understand why most Americans don't trust the Green Movement. Its because we realize that the green movement is like a watermelon.... Green on the outside, but Red to the core.

Jonny Evans | October 17, 2008 - 7:19am

ROFL. Points. Rolls Eyes.

Compassionate Mac User (not verified) | October 17, 2008 - 10:42am

I can't believe what I'm seeing. It's not hard to understand small steps in the right direction are important for our future. Although I agree Apple's changes won't fix our problems, if all companies took steps to be more green we would see a significant change. More importantly it will help (I hope) convince others, individuals, that we need to make changes.
Anyone who doesn't believe we're hurting our earth needs a reality check. It's insane we still have to debate about this.
Do your homework! Anyone who dissagrees with most of the scientist's consensus on climate change is ignoring the facts.
If it's true the majority of American's don't "believe" in the green movement, I would feel very bad for us and our country's ignorance. We'll all be kickng our own asses for f-in everying up. What if I'm wrong? Then we made better steps to a more efficient, self sustainable world(and a can make tons of $$ doing this). What if those who don't agree are wrong? I hope we don't find out.
I don't have time to list the hundreds or thousands of scientifically proven meathods that point to our negative effect on climate change. I hope those who don't believe take the time to learn more about it. It's for the benefit of our whole world, our food, water, air and our children and their children.